Havana — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez criticized the United States for recent remarks about his role in Latin America, saying in a Sunday broadcast from Cuba that it is the policies of the U.S. government that are harming the world, not his own.
Chavez spoke alongside Cuban President Fidel Castro during his weekly television and radio show from the western tip of the island, flaunting the close ties between the two leftist leaders that U.S. leaders say are threatening democracy in the region.
"The grand destroyer of the world, and the greatest threat ... is represented by U.S. imperialism," Chavez said.
Chavez was responding to remarks Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made on his way home from visits to Paraguay and Peru last week.
Uneasy about the close relationship between Castro and Chavez, Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials have repeatedly said the two men are fomenting instability in Latin America. Both leaders have denied the accusations.
During the nearly six-hour show, Castro and Chavez talked mainly about their joint social ventures, particularly in the health sector. Cuba has sent a fifth of its doctors to work in Venezuela, in gratitude for massive shipments of Venezuelan oil under preferential terms.
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